Storied History: New York City in Literature

JUNE 29, 2010

There never seem to be enough pages to contain the words that have been written about New York and New Yorkers.

In his 1809 faux-tobiography, Knickerbocker’s History of New York, author and essayist Washington Irving introduced a word into the American cultural lexicon to gently mock descendants of the original Dutch settlers. Henry James, whose novels, including Washington Square and The Portrait of a Lady, seemed to specialize in New York classics. Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence could serve as a warning even to modern metropolitans about the pitfalls of shifting social sands, as could F. Scott Fitzgerald’s defining tale, “The Great Gatsby.”

The city’s ability to provide inspiration for gifted storytellers has never slowed. Tom Wolfe’s impressive oeuvre includes many colorful accounts of humanity’s less charming side as the city’s socioeconomic trends and their influences changed with each decade. And the city that founded PEN and a host of literary publications hasn’t disappointed modern lovers of the written word. Contemporary novelist Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy made the Brooklyn author a household name among the super-literate, and fellow Brooklynite Jonathan Lethem added Motherless Brooklyn and A Fortress of Solitude to the Big Apple-inspired short-list. Phillip Lopate’s Writing New York: A Literary Anthology is a good resource if you’re interested in taking a deeper dive into the history of New York City lit.

ALSO IN NEW YORK CITY INSIDER

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Storied History: New York City in Literature

JUNE 29, 2010

ALSO IN NEW YORK CITY INSIDER

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